October 8, 2010

Obama's Pick For WH National Security Adviser Led "Backdoor" Lobbying Campaign For Fannie Mae And Has "No Military Experience" (Updated)

Today we learned that Barack Obama has named long-time political hack, Washington insider, and Obama "yes man," Tom Donilon as national security adviser to replace General General James Jones as national security adviser.

[...] Donilon is expected to be much more forceful than Jones as Obama's main adviser on foreign affairs and defence.

Donilon, with no military background, is much more political than Jones and sided with the vice-president, Joe Biden, in pushing for as early an exit from Afghanistan as possible and was reluctant to accede to the generals' insistence on sending an extra 30,000 troops this year.

His stance will put him at odds with the US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, who took over this summer and is reluctant to begin withdrawing significant numbers of US troops until it is clear that progress has been made. (emphasis added)

As far as Donilon being a political hack, this is evidenced not only by his well known political oriented resume but also by the fact that until 2005 Donilon helped oversee the aggressive lobbying operation of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae. ABC News reported back in November 08 that Donilon oversaw what it describes as a "backdoor lobbying campaign" - to undermine the credibility of a probe into the firm's accounting irregularities:

The effort -- which reportedly included attacks on the funding for the oversight agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, and an attempt to launch a separate investigation into OFHEO itself -- was ultimately unsuccessful, and regulators eventually discovered top Fannie Mae executives had been manipulating the company's financial reporting to maximize their bonuses. (emphasis added)

Although Donilon was not found to be involved in the financial manipulations, according to the OFHEO investigation.he did however help give Fannie's board the misimpression that the company was in good financial health.

In other words, I think it's very safe to say that not only will Donilon will fit in well with the rest of the Obama administration, we're likely to see an even more disfunctional military and security policies ahead - and surrender in Afghanistan.

(Photograph credit: Larry Downing/Reuters)

Related:
"">A Little Background Info On Obama's New Anti-Military National Security Adviser (Any thoughts people were having that Obama might move to the center after the Dem shellacking in November can now be officially put to rest)

Posted by Richard at October 8, 2010 3:45 PM

Obama's Pick For WH National Security Adviser Led \"Backdoor\" Lobbying Campaign For Fannie Mae And Has \"No Military Experience\" (Updated)

\n\nToday we learned that Barack Obama has named long-time political hack, Washington insider, and Obama \"yes man,\" Tom Donilon as national security adviser to replace General General James Jones as national security adviser.\n\nAccording to the Guardian:

[...] Donilon is expected to be much more forceful than Jones as Obama's main adviser on foreign affairs and defence.\n\nDonilon, with no military background, is much more political than Jones and sided with the vice-president, Joe Biden, in pushing for as early an exit from Afghanistan as possible and was reluctant to accede to the generals' insistence on sending an extra 30,000 troops this year.\n\nHis stance will put him at odds with the US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, who took over this summer and is reluctant to begin withdrawing significant numbers of US troops until it is clear that progress has been made. (emphasis added)

As far as Donilon being a political hack, this is evidenced not only by his well known political oriented resume but also by the fact that until 2005 Donilon helped oversee the aggressive lobbying operation of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae. ABC News reported back in November 08 that Donilon oversaw what it describes as a \"backdoor lobbying campaign\" - to undermine the credibility of a probe into the firm's accounting irregularities:

The effort -- which reportedly included attacks on the funding for the oversight agency, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, and an attempt to launch a separate investigation into OFHEO itself -- was ultimately unsuccessful, and regulators eventually discovered top Fannie Mae executives had been manipulating the company's financial reporting to maximize their bonuses. (emphasis added)

Although Donilon was not found to be involved in the financial manipulations, according to the OFHEO investigation.he did however help give Fannie's board the misimpression that the company was in good financial health. \n\nIn other words, I think it's very safe to say that not only will Donilon will fit in well with the rest of the Obama administration, we're likely to see an even more disfunctional military and security policies ahead - and surrender in Afghanistan.\n\n(Photograph credit: Larry Downing/Reuters)\n\nRelated: A Little Background Info On Obama's New Anti-Military National Security Adviser (Any thoughts people were having that Obama might move to the center after the Dem shellacking in November can now be officially put to rest)